Limbo
by fireflyAndy
Summary: ATLA Canon set along the same timeline as the Awakening. Aang has an out of body experience with Katara's healing and aangst and drama develop. Aang wakes up to a confusing reality but all is well and good in the end. Kataang, rated M because I'm paranoid.


I read a fic by u/4723692/The-biggest-fan-of-Kataang and really liked the idea of doing a fic just after Aang gets hit by Azula in Ba Sing Se. I would just like to point out I'm not stealing the OP's fic just the original idea behind it, aka doing a fic about Aang's coma.

Also they're going to be a bit older, Aang 16, Katara 17, etc. Mainly because it creeps me out to write about children being intimate and kissing. Sorry for the ending this fic has been on my laptop for months and I got sick of it being incomplete so I just rushed it.

I love Toph, she just reminds me so much of Jessica from the original American pie trilogy. I hope you enjoy it.

Limbo

The last thing he remembered before waking was a white-hot pain shooting through his spine and a maniacal laugh filling his head and shortly after Katara's ocean eyes staring into his through torrents of tears fading into blackness.

"Please, Aang- wake- I don't- how- more of this I can take." A voice slowly started breaking through the darkness, then as if all at once, he was pulled free. "Dammit can you just move or something! Anything." Katara yelled. "Please, anything." Aang opened his eyes and saw those same ocean blue eyes with that same teary sheen. Her head sunk as she tightened grip on his hand. "Please." She whispered. He reached for her with his free hand and moved to wipe the tears falling from her eyes but froze halfway, his arm had an uncomfortably familiar blue glow to it, the glow it has when he's in the spirit world. He leaped off of the bed way from Katara and to his dismay; his body didn't seem to follow.

"Do not fret, young avatar," A rough voice announced behind him.  
"Roku am I… Am I dead?" Aang choked on the last syllable, he couldn't be dead, he still had so much left to do, a war to finish, a girl to love.

"No, young avatar, not yet. This is a state many spirits refer to as limbo, not yet dead but not really alive. It's a crossroad of sorts and only time can decide which direction you take. If your body can be restored enough for you to return to the living then you shall return to the living, if it cannot you will not. It is really a miracle that your young water-bender had that spirit water, with out it the avatar spirit would have perished and with it, any hope for the future. Some girl she is, she put a lid on Pandora's box without a second thought and all on her own. This is where I leave you, Avatar Aang, only time will tell." Aang turned from Roku's fading form and back to Katara. She had seemingly fallen asleep while he was speaking with Roku.

Aang stared helplessly from his corner; he wanted nothing more than to tell her everything would be ok, that he would be ok. A knock sounded from the door so loudly Aang wanted to slam it on the knocker. Sokka walked in a second later with a steaming bowl and blanket. He placed the bowl down on a table before waking his sister. "Kat, hey wake up sleepy head."

"What do you want Sokka?" She replied flatly, eyes still shut.

"I brought you some water, Dad and I got it as clean as we could. Its no spirit water but it should help."  
Thanks Sokka." She said breathlessly, looking away from her brother back to the body her hand was still clutching.  
"How are you holding up Katara?"

"I'm not. He's just, he... He's just so still, he is so still and so quiet and I don't know what to do anymore." Tears began to fall down her cheeks again.

"There isn't a great amount we can do, you can keep healing him, and the rest of us can keep waiting. It's on him now." Sokka passed her the blanket and made for the door. "He's Aang, he will be more than fine Katara. He always is." With that, Sokka shut the door behind him. Katara threw a look of disgust at Aang, standing across the room. Aang nearly gasped in shock but then he realized the look couldn't have been meant for him. It was meant for the abundance of Fire Nation memorabilia behind him.  
"I will kill her for this. I will kill Azula." She mumbled, over and over again.

Katara stood up and began to move the blankets covering Aang's body down to his hips and gently as she could, rolled him over.

"I'm sorry, I am so sorry if this hurts." She started unraveling the bandages that crisscrossed his back to expose the ragged, raw wound that bore its way into Aang's spine. She worked her magic over and over the wound hoping that it would make a difference. To her dismay it barely made one. The wound was clean and a little less raw but Aang himself had made no visible improvements. Aang turned away from his body and looked out the small circular window to find the moon and its ghostly light but to his dismay there wasn't one. "Dammit!" He heard a cry from behind him, Katara's anguish ridden cry that seemed to tear through him worse than lighting itself. "New moon, how could I forget that? This is pointless." She tossed the water back into its bowl across the room and returned Aang to his former state.

Weeks passed of Aang helplessly watching his best friend fall to pieces thinking that he would never wake. Only time could tell them if they would ever meet again and time was sure taking his own sweet… Well you know.

Out side of his room Aang heard a loud, very loud, argument going, Sokka and Katara he presumed. "Katara it's been nearly 4 weeks! If he hasn't woken up by now he probably isn't going to! You said it yourself he was dead and you brought him back with the spirit water. Its not natural, just because you're in love him doesn't give you the divine right to stop him from moving on!"

"HOW DARE YOU. He is going to wake up! The spirit water restored his spirit we are just waiting on his body! Aang is going to be fine, he is going to wake up he has to!"

"Katara, you need to let him go sooner or later. For his sake make it sooner." The second voice was definitely sounding more feminine the more it spoke.  
"No. I will never give up on him and you shouldn't either! Aang has saved our lives on more occasions than either of us can count! He deserves better than this Toph." Katara opened the door and slammed it behind her before opening it a second later and screaming out, "And I'm not in love with him!"  
"Keep telling yourself that Sugar queen!" Toph yelled back from the other side.

"Its okay Aang, tonight's the full moon, you will be fine, you have to be fine." Katara swallowed back the lump in her throat and sat on the bed next to Aang. "For me, please."

"I will be Katara, I will." Aang replied. "I promise." She fell asleep not long after, her face softening, almost looking happy.

She was awoken by a beam shining down on her, the light from the moon. For a moment, Aang thought, Yue was reaching down from the moon, reaching for him. Only a small moment, he blinked it away and returned his gaze to Katara.

"I know what I need to do." She leapt from the bed, grabbing a bowl on her way out. Aang wished he could follow her but he couldn't leave the room. She returned nearly as quickly as she left with a full bowl of water. "Why didn't I think of this before, how could I be so stupid! I used water from the spirit oasis that was enriched with the spirit of the moon and the spirit of the ocean, now what I do is heal you with pure water from the ocean by the light of the full moon! Aang, you are going to be okay!" She flew around the room, arranging her things and preparing for the monumental healing session before her. She prepared his body the same way she had the day before, peeling away sheets and bandages and rolling him so he lay on his stomach. "If this doesn't work I will kill you Aang, it's all I have left." She nearly giggled.  
"If this works," He said to himself, "I will kiss you." She pulled the water from the bowl and began to work her magic, healing was a long process. She moved the water up and down his spine following the chi paths. She moved so gently and purposefully and Aang felt himself growing more and more faint, whether it was good or bad he didn't care. Time was making up his mind. She removed the water from his body and rolled back over so he was lying face up again. She began with the water again over his heart following where its beating lead her. Aang felt a pull towards his body and he knew which road he was taking, the one back to Katara.

Aang opened his eyes with a gasp and sat up in an instant, startling the still-healing Katara. Water splashed over his stomach and dampened the sheets he was lying on. "You're awake!" She gasped flinging her arms around him. "I knew you would wake up, I knew it." Aang felt a tear splash onto his already damp shoulder and he pulled out of the hug.  
"Like I had another choice, I left so much unfinished business here." He moved his hands to her cheeks and with his thumbs, brushed the falling tears away. Aang glanced up at her eyes, those ocean blue eyes all water tribe members seemed to have, "Thank for believing in me." He closed his eyes and gave her this kiss he promised himself he would give her, a kiss he had been wanting to give the moment she pulled him from the iceberg all those years ago.

Katara was stiff with surprise for a moment or two but immediately yielded he lips to his. Their mouths glided softly together, moving as one. Before long Aang felt Katara's tongue ghost along his lower lip then again with a more fierce pressure. Aang opened his mouth to her and their tongues began the dance for dominance. That is they would have if the door hadn't burst off its hinges. Toph and Sokka broke through and the blushing teems broke apart. Stunned face were to be had all round but the excitement at a conscious Aang quickly won out. Toph and Sokka pounced on him enveloping him in hugs that put platypus bears to shame.

"Its good to see you back with the living buddy." Sokka pounded lightly on his back.

"Yeah good to _see_ you Aang." Toph laughed. It took a moment but the rest of team avatar joined in the laughter. Katara threw Aang a longing glance before she made her way up to the deck. The full moon sent energy coursing through her veins and being cooped up for weeks hadn't sapped her usual amount of it. Only Aang seemed to notice her quiet retreat but was a little too preoccupied to do anything. Toph noticed the awkward tension between the two men and took her own leave after a while. The metal of the ship provided her enough comfort in seeing her way opposed to flying on Appa but it there's no earth like home. She made her way up to the deck where a flustered, unknowing Katara was perched.

"Just out of curiosity, did she only just heal you or has this been going on for a while?" Sokka gave Aang a rather stern, big brother expression.

"Well, yes to both I guess. I mean she did only just heal me but she's been trying for weeks. I guess you could call it an out of body experience." Aang felt both sheepish and proud. Sokka had walked into the middle of one very heated make out session but if Katara hadn't brought his avatar spirit back from the brink of extinction it would never have been a possibility. That young woman singlehandedly lidded Pandora's box.

"You know what I mean Aang." Sokka's tone hardening.

"No, I mean yes, wait no." Aang's brow furrowed in thought. "It has but it hasn't, I mean I've loved her the moment I woke up from the iceberg but nothing's ever really happened between us. This was a first."

"That's what I thought. Took your time to make a move buddy, but coma? Probably not the best opening move." Sokka's laughter ricocheted around the room.

"So you aren't mad? No lecture over tainting the purity of your beloved little sister or how I'm forbidden from so much as holding her hand until marriage?"

"Not mad and I figured you were a smart enough kid that the lecture was implied." Their laughter continued to bounce around the metal walls enclosing them.

"What are you doing out here Sugar Queen?" Toph's high voice startling the incredibly high-strung waterbender, causing the water she was playing with to fall to the deck.

"I thought it obvious Mud Slug, trying to get rid of some energy. Full moon." She turned grinning to face her blind friend.

"Well from what I just walked in on let me tell you there are other perfectly fine, and very _enjoyable_ ways to burn up excess energy." Toph savoured the last two words.

"Oh yeah? What exactly?" Katara lashed. Regretting her words the second a sly grin began creeping on Toph's face.  
"If you need to ask you really need to go find out. You and Aang have the big 'L' its beyond time to figure out the big 'O'." Toph's maniacal grin filled the night air and followed her back down the galley stairs. Katara spun in frustration and sat at the tip of the hull, overlooking the ocean and the moon that sent waves of energy coursing through her. She pulled her legs under herself and placed her hands on her knees. Meditation was what she had resorted to for the past few moon cycles, waxing or waning if the moon was much more than at half she was like a jack waiting in its box. Meditation always seemed to work in calming Aang's nerves and the last few weeks it was all she could do to feel close to him. Right now she knew the nerves she was calming were more than pure energy and joy at her best friends waking. They were all the repressed feelings and tensions that she had allowed to build up over the past few years. She knew Toph was both joking and serious at her previous statement but it was enough to cause her to wonder if Aang actually felt for her what she had for him. A kiss was just a kiss and Katara knew it was more than likely because she was present when he woke up, it Toph had been there it would have been her lips that he graced. The mere thought of it sent chills down her spine. She had loved Aang for years and he had once seemed to return it but he was young and impressionable, the love he felt was merely a crush and in the passed years that crush had never resurfaced. Katara exhaled sharply. Meditation was supposed to channel her energy along her chi paths and out of her body, not channel it into her mind and cause her thoughts to run rampant. It was supposed to distract her from worldly concerns. Things that on that night, that it certainly didn't.

Aang plodded around the ship for about 10 minutes before he gave up and prepared to use his seismic sense to find a certain waterbender. Before he could correct his stance he was interrupted by an evil giggle and an old friend. He looked up and caught Toph's grin that spread, literally, from ear to ear.

"Well, well Lord Avatar, look at you up and walking!" She gently approached him and wrapped him in a hug. Much more tender than her trademark punch in the arm.

"Yeah, beats waiting to see if I was going to die or not." He released her from the hug, slightly frustrated at the detour.

"I'm glad you're okay, Sweetness was becoming irritatingly unbearable. Much more than usual." There was a double meaning in her words and Aang wasn't sure if he had the patience to try and find out.

"How so?" He asked, cursing his impulsive tongue.

"The usual but worse. Some days I just wanted to jump off the boat and put me out of my misery. 'Oh Aang wake up! I need you blah blah blah.' We all wanted you to wake up, don't get me wrong but damn!" She finished a little exhausted but grinning nonetheless.

"I can imagine why _that_ would be annoying." He stated shortly. "Although I will admit I'm glad she was choosing later rather than sooner." He made to move past her and up the galley stairs.

"What?" Her voice faltered. "You heard that? I didn't mean it in a bad way Aang. It wasn't healthy, it was killing her. At least if you were dead she could grieve rather than wait for the seemingly impossible." Aang turned and faced his friend.  
"What do you mean 'killing her'?"

"You don't know do you? Spirits why are you the only two who can't see it. SHE'S IN LOVE WITH YOU GENIUS. She has been since before I met you!" Aang was frozen with the realisation that was kicking in. That was why Sokka hadn't killed him on the spot; he knew Katara returned those feelings. He stood like that for a few moments before Toph lost her patience completely. "She's up on the deck Twinkletoes." She shifted the metal under him, launching him forward and breaking his daydream.

"Right, uh, yeah ok." He regained his balance and moved slowly for the stairs that lead up to the deck and to the girl of his dreams.

Aang toed his way up the stairs lightly; unsure of what he was doing or of anything he was about to. Katara sat facing away from him and largely to his surprise, she was meditating. He never in his life thought that he would see her doing something like meditating. She was too impulsive, he figured Katara would much rather be in the ocean bending their boat along before sitting _still_. Rather than continuing forward he stopped and took in the spectacle before him. It wasn't long before she caved and pulled water up from the deposit below and began bending it around. She made various patterns, the different elemental symbols, then, one he almost didn't recognize, the symbol that decorated her mother's necklace. She was bending them into a new pattern when he finally approached her, coughing first to announce himself. The water dropped immediately but not before Aang got a glimpse at the new pattern. It seemed both so familiar and so foreign to him.

"Are you sure you're okay to be walking around Avatar?" Her tone a mix of mocking and unease.

"I'm not really sure of anything at the moment. How are you holding up?" He moved over next to her and sat.

"Let me get this straight, you come back from a coma and want to know if _I'm_ okay?"

"Pretty much. The monks taught us to forget worldly concerns and ourselves on occasion. I've had the last month to myself its time I focused on someone else." His ashy eyes met cerulean.

"You are unbelievable. Fine just feel like I'm going to explode. The full moon doesn't usually get to me this much." Aang took a few steps toward her until he was next to hers, his arm barely grazing hers. She shivered at the contact and hugged herself slightly.

"Sorry, are you cold?" He asked gently.

"No I'm fine." An awkward silence enveloped them. Katara gazed out at the ocean fidgeting and Aang had his hands tightly on the rails of the ship. A strange vibration was tingling his bare feet. It was strange, it was like someone was speaking to him through his feet. Toph. The realisation was like fireball to the face.

"Spirits you're hopeless Twinkletoes. Just thank her and hug her. Then give her a sob story about how you were waiting to wake up to confess your eternal love. Its not airship science."

"You've got to be kidding me." He grumbled aloud.  
"Excuse me?" Katara turned to him suddenly, a look filled with offence covering her face.

"It seems Toph has discovered a new way of communicating. She's using her seismic sense to talk to me through my feet. You're lucky you aren't an earthbender it is so weird."

"Oh, what's Toph got to say for herself?" Katara turned back to the ocean.

"The usual. Insults, sarcastic comments, trying to make people make up their minds."

"Oh so nothing important then?" She asked.

"No." He paused and turned to her for a moment. "Katara, can I ask you something?" She stiffened slightly.  
"I guess so." She hugged herself tighter.

"When I was in the coma, I was kind of in the spirit world but also here and I guess was hovering around my body. I… Well I was just wondering what you meant when you asked me to wake up for you. I mean I wanted to don't get me wrong, but just the way you said it. It wasn't nice to hear." He paused again, for just a moment too long.

"Excuse me? Well sorry for actually caring!" She turned to run down the stairs to her room.

"No Katara wait I didn't mean that!" He caught her wrist and moved his hand into hers gently. "I meant you sounded so broken. It hurt to hear you so hurt. I hated that I could do that to you. Spirits I thought I'd grown out of saying things the wrong way."

"Oh. Um... I don't know what you expect me to say Aang." Her eyes met his, darkening slightly. Aang took a deep breath. _It's now or never, Twinkletoes. Kiss her!_

"Don't say anything." He tightened his grip on her hand and raised his other to the side of her neck. He pulled her in gently and crashed his lips onto hers. She surrendered almost immediately to the kiss and relished in the feel of his lips on hers. He moved so gently, one hand moving to cup the back of her neck and the other releasing her wrist and moving to the small of her back, holding her tightly against him. They broke the kiss for a few moments to catch their breaths.  
"Whoa." Katara breathed heavily. Her chest rising and falling rapidly.

"Whoa is an understatement. Spirits, I've been wanting to do that for four years." Katara froze for a second.

"Four years? Really? I thought after everything with Jet and then everything with Azula and the war and even the cave of two lovers you'd gotten over it." She puzzled it around in her head.

"Hardly. You make quite the impression, I just thought that you didn't feel the same so I stopped trying and especially with Jet I didn't want to annoy you. I just became that 'sweet little guy, just like Momo.'"

"I guess you did. But that sweet little guy did a good job, I believed you. If only we were having this conversation then huh?"  
"Yeah, then I wouldn't have had to wait for the coma to make a move." He grinned deviously and pulled her back in for a kiss. Right away her tongue grazed his lip and he parted them for her. They danced and dived together, moving as one. Before long they needed air again and this time Aang took full advantage of it. He hugged her tightly and whispered those little words that melted her heart.

"I'm so glad you saved me, I left too much unsaid up here but no more. I love you Katara, to the moon and back."


End file.
